A High Court in Makurdi, the Benue State capital has barred Iyorchia Ayu from parading himself as the National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
The interim court order against Ayu was given on Monday by Justice W.I. Kpochi in suit No. MHC/85/2023 filed at the court by Engr Conrad Terhide Utaan with Ayu and the PDP as defendants.
Justice Kpochi ordered that Ayu should stop parading himself as the PDP chairman pending the determination of a suit filed against him.
The case has been adjourned until April 17 for further hearing.
It would be recalled that on Sunday, the Executive Committee of the PDP in Igyorov Ward in Gboko Local Government Area of Benue State suspended Ayu from the party with immediate effect.
The secretary of the committee, Banger Dooyum, said Ayu was suspended for anti-party activities after passing a vote of no confidence on him.
Dooyum stressed that Ayu’s anti-party activities alongside his allies contributed to the loss of the party in his ward and local government in the governorship election.
He said the committee also accused the national chairman of not paying his annual dues as enshrined by the party’s constitution.
However, in his reaction on Monday, the PDP national chairman said those who suspended him were illiterates and ignorant of the provisions of the PDP constitution.
Ayu in a statement issued by his media aide, Simon Imobo-Tswam explained that it is only the PDP National Executive Committee (NEC) that has the power to suspend him.
According to him, his Ward executive members were being tale guided by those he described as political gamblers “to cause mischief and nothing more.”
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